Daoxin

Dayi Daoxin
School	Early Chan, East Mountain Teachings
Personal
Born	580
Died	651 East Mountain Temple, Shuangfeng
Senior posting
Title	Fourth Chan Patriarch Dayi (Great Healer)
Predecessor	Jianzhi Sengcan
Successor	Daman Hongren

Dayi Daoxin (Chinese: 道信, pinyin: Dàoxìn, Wade–Giles: Tao-hsin) (Japanese: Dōshin) (580–651) was the fourth Chán Buddhist Patriarch, following Jianzhi Sengcan 僧璨 (died 606) (Wade–Giles: Chien-chih Seng-ts'an; Japanese: Kanchi Sosan) and preceding Hongren Chinese: 弘忍) (601–674).

The earliest mention of Daoxin is in the Hsü kao-seng chuan (Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (645) (Pin-yin, Xu gao-seng zhuan; Japanese, Zoku kosoden;) by Tao-hsuan (d. 667)) A later source, the Ch'üan fa pao chi (Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure), written around 712, gives further details of Daoxin's life. As with many of the very earliest Chan masters, the accuracy of the historical record is questionable and in some cases, contradictory in details. The following biography is the traditional story of Daoxin, culled from various sources, including the Wudeng Huiyuan (Compendium of Five Lamps), compiled in the early thirteenth century by the monk Dachuan Lingyin Puji (1179–1253).

Daoxin, whose surname was Si-ma, was born in Yongning County, Qizhou （Chinese: 蕲州府永宁县）. (The former Guangji County（742-1987), now Wuxue City（1987-）, Hubei Province) （Chinese: 前湖北省广济县，现在的武穴市）. He began studying Buddhism at the age of seven and although his teacher was a man of impure moral conduct, Daoxin maintained the Buddhist morality on his own without his teacher’s knowledge for five or six years.

According to Jianzhi Sengcan’s chronicle in the Compendium of Five Lamps, Daoxin met Sengcan when he was only fourteen years old. The following exchange took place:

Upon hearing these words, Daoxin was enlightenend. He attended to Sengcan for the next nine years. When Sengcan went to Mount Lo-fu he refused permission for Daoxin to follow him, saying “The Dharma has been transmitted from Patriarch [Bodhi]dharma to me. I am going to the South and will leave you [here] to spread and protect [the Dharma].”(from the Ch’üan fa pao chi) For ten years he studied with Zhikai at Great Woods Temple on Mount Lu. Zhikai (Wade–Giles: Shih-k’ai) was an adept of the Taintai and Sanlun schools and also chanted the Buddha’s name as part of his practice; Daoxin’s practice was influenced by these other schools. Daoxin received ordination as a monk in 607.

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